Wall Street edges up after Italy exit polls

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks opened slightly higher on Monday after initial polls showed pro-reform center-leftists could win the Italian general election, though caution remained as defensive sectors led gains on the S&P 500. The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 41.47 points or 0.3 percent, to 14,042.04, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 6.81 points or 0.45 percent,...

Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: Horsemeat Scandal Grows More Serious and More Bizarre

LONDON — As European governments struggle in vain to draw a line under the scandal over horsemeat being sold as beef, the affair seems only to be widening, in sometimes bizarre ways.Two German politicians, for instance, suggested over the weekend that one practical use for tainted products, such as tens of thousands of packs of lasagna pulled from supermarket shelves because they contained horsemeat,...

Read More..

Playstation 4 Games Warn of PS-Style Surveillance

The debut of the PlayStation 4 in New York City Wednesday (Feb. 20) was as remarkable for what it showed as for what it didn’t show: Sony unveiled a raft of beautiful, incredibly realistic new games, but not the console itself. The device, perhaps in a straight-from-the-lab rough appearance, was somewhere offstage, driving the giant projectors that broadcast previews of upcoming games around the Hammerstein...

Read More..

You're Invited to PEOPLE.com's Oscars Party!

02/24/2013 at 08:40 AM EST From left: Bradley Cooper, Oscar, Jessica Chastain AFP/Getty; Wireimage; Splash News Online Oscars host Seth MacFarlane isn't the only one gearing up for Hollywood's biggest night – we are too! Be a part of the glamour and excitement Sunday starting at 6 p.m. ET/3...

Read More..

FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

Read More..

Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large. Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling. Talks on the U.S. budget...

Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: As Oscars Fever Builds, Some Chinese Ask: ‘What About Our Films?’

BEIJING — As Oscar fever grows around the world with the 85th Academy Awards set to begin in Los Angeles just hours from now, excitement is building in China, even though it has no films in competition. There is also a sense of frustration here about why China’s movies aren’t nominated for the world’s biggest awards?China sees itself as advancing in many ways, growing richer and more powerful, so...

Read More..

Big studios behind swag-fueled Oscar push

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Giant coffee table books, iPod Shuffles, signed letters from directors, even “Lincoln” turkey roasting pans. That’s just some of the largesse doled out by the studios to voters for awards presented earlier this season — each with the potential to influence the outcome of Hollywood’s most important awards, Sunday night’s Oscars.Such gifts are strictly forbidden by the Academy of...

Read More..

Reeva Steenkamp's Father: If Oscar Pistorius Speaks the Truth, 'I Can Perhaps Someday Forgive Him'

By Stephen M. Silverman 02/23/2013 at 09:30 AM EST Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Elite/EMPICS Entertainment/ABACA Having been freed on bail Friday as he awaits trial for the premeditated murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorius "will have...

Read More..

FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent...

Read More..